Person:Thomas Meekins (2)

Thomas Meekins
b.Bef 1613 England
m. 27 Jan 1607/08
  1. Thomas MeekinsBef 1613 - 1687
  2. Ellen Meakins1618 - 1638
m. Bef 1639
  1. Joseph Meekins1639 -
  2. Sarah Meekins1641 -
  3. Thomas Meekins1643 - 1675
  4. Mary MeekinsEst 1645 - Bef 1705
  5. Hannah Meekins1646/47 -
  6. John Meekins1648/49 - 1649
  • HThomas MeekinsBef 1613 - 1687
  • W.  Elizabeth (add)
m. 14 Feb 1650/51
Facts and Events
Name Thomas Meekins
Gender Male
Birth? Bef 1613 EnglandAdmitted to church 1634
Immigration? 1633 Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United StatesAboard the Griffin
Marriage Bef 1639 Based on birth of Joseph in Boston
to Sarah Unknown
Marriage 14 Feb 1650/51 Roxbury, Suffolk, Massachusetts, United Statesto Elizabeth (add)
Death[1] 10 Dec 1687 Hadley, Hampshire, Massachusetts, United States

Boston church records reveal that his parents, "Thomas Mekins and Katherine his wife servants to our brother Edmund Quinsey" were admitted to Boston church 2 February 1633/4. "Thomas Mekins the younger servant to our brother Edmund Quinsey" was admitted to the Boston church 30 March 1634[2] Both Thomas and his father Thomas are listed on a list of those who had previously been granted property in Boston on 21 Mar 1635/6. [3]"Thom: Mekyn Junior" was made freeman 25 May 1636.[4]

On 6 June 1641 "Our brother Thomas Mekins the elder and our sister Katherine his wife were granted to be recommended to the church at Braintree".[5] Thomas may have accompanied or preceded his parents, as he had children recorded at Braintree, namely, Sarah, b. 24 Apr. 1641, and Thomas, b. 8 Jun 1643. Other children are recorded at Roxbury starting in 1647. [6]

On Oct 16, 1660, he was part of a group of residents at Braintree who were granted an 8 acre plantation outside of town. This became the town of Mendon, but Thomas was not noted in later documentation of settlement. [7]

Thomas was one of the first residents of Hatfield, Hampshire, MA, and he ran a grist mill on the Mill River as early as 1662 and later added a sawmill. [8] From a real estate listing of the property: The history of the Old Mill building in Hatfield, most recently the office space for The Valley Advocate newspaper, is rich, dating back to the time of the town's settlement. In 1661, when the first pioneers traveled up the Connecticut River from Springfield and towns further south, one of their main concerns was how they would grind their grain. These citizens turned over to Thomas Meekins, one of their own, all rights to a lot on the Mill River, formerly known as the Capawank River. With an adjacent waterfall created by natural red sandstone formations, this mill had power, and it became the center of industry and commerce in the town for the next three centuries. Eight years after Thomas Meekins built the gristmill he built a sawmill on the north side of the waterfall. These mills took on great importance in the region after other area mills were destroyed in Indian attacks, beginning in 1675. To protect their investments, settlers garrisoned the Meekins' mills.

Text References

  1. Savage, James. A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England: Showing Three Generations of Those Who Came Before May, 1692, on the Basis of Farmer's Register. (Boston: Little, Brown, and Co, 1860-1862)
    3:191-192.

    THOMAS, Braintree, s. of the preced. b. in Eng. came, no doubt, with his f. and mo. 1633, "serv. to our br. Edmund Quincy," as on adm. to the ch. 30 Mar. foll. he is call. was freem. 25 [vol. 3, p. 192] May 1636, had Joseph, bapt 5 May 1639, at Boston, and at Braintree, Sarah, b. 24 Apr. 1641; and Thomas, 8 June 1643; was rep. 1644; rem. to Roxburg there had Hannah, bapt. 13 Mar. 1647; and John, 28 Jan. 1649, d. in May foll. and his w. Sarah d. in childbed, 21 Jan. 1651, says. the ch. rec. wh. adds "she was a gracious woman, and left a good savor behind her." The Braintree rec. ment. that Helen M. was drown. 3 Dec. 1638; and she may have been ch. but more prob. sis. of this man. He rem. to Hadley, with sec w. Elizabeth m. says rec. of R. 14 Feb. 1651 (unless this be antedat.) wh. d. 1683 without ch. and he d. 10 Dec. 1687. He had ds. Mary, I suppose b. at Braintree, wh. m. at Nathaniel Clark of Northampton, bore him two ds. and in 1669 m. John Allis of Hatfield; and Hannah, w. of Joseph Belknap, wh. d. 26 Dec. 1688, to share his prop. acc. his will, with heirs of his only s. v

  2. Anderson, Great Migration, citing Boston Church Records 17
  3. Anderson, Great Migration, citing Boston Town Records 1:9
  4. Anderson, Great Migration, citing Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, 1628-1686, 1:372
  5. Anderson, Great Migration, citing Boston Church Records 34
  6. Savage, A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England
  7. NEHGR 21:380
  8. Hatfield Hist. Commission